Long Time No See

It's surprising how quickly time has passed. Busy with other things, I've had thoughts about a variety of posts, but no time to see them through by writing them up.

A few of the posts I haven't done are about:

1. An air travel survival kit. Substituting TSA-compliancy for a knife turns this into a small kit ideal for day-hiking.

2. A few states still legalizing marital rape. I thought the U.S. was a leader in women's rights but it turns out wives in those states are not much better off under the law than wives in certain Muslim countries.

3. The direction of my writing. I always thought to write novels in the thriller genre, but I've been reading Hemingway and find my desire turning to more literary prose.

If it's true that one doesn't die until one's life work is done, at the rate I'm going, I'll live forever.

Fortunately as a Christian, it's already guaranteed in writing.

Until next time.

Happy 4th Blogversary!

Thank you to all who have visited my blog! It's gratifying to know that I've provoked your thinking and provided information along with a bit of entertainment for four years.

Again, I've managed to average a fraction over a post per week. The past two months, however, have shown me how difficult it is to maintain that regularity when I'm focused on other goals.

As a result, I'm freeing myself from the regimen and guilt from not meeting my self-imposed deadline of providing something new for you to read each weekend.

This doesn't mean I'll stop posting because I have a lot more I want to write about. It only means that my posts may continue to be as irregular as they have recently become.

Discouraging

I've been discouraged from blogging because my posts are being corrupted upon publication and I don't like spending the time it takes to fix them. I thought it just started happening this year with my last post about my mobile survival kit and the other survival kit lists I recently updated only to find it's been going on since last November when I updated my car survival kit :(.

When I fixed it a few minutes ago, instead of omitting chunks as before, all the spaces were changed to plus signs ("+"). Fortunately, as a result of the corruption, I had started saving my posts as html so all I had to do was paste my copy back in and republish, hoping it wouldn't get corrupted again.

Yay! It worked.

Now, let's see what happens to this post.

Too Hot

It.

Is.

Too.

Hot.

To.

Blog.

Interesting Week - Preparedness

Between Joplin, MO suffering from tornado devastation and a long line of huge storms with tornadoes passing through on Tuesday, the local CBS TV station polled viewers asking if they were going to step up their emergency preparations. Surprisingly, since the broadcast area includes Wichita Falls, TX that was devastated in 1979, 73% of the respondents said, "No."

One couple, looking like they're past the mid-life crisis stage of life, said they always have water and other items in each of their vehicles because they've learned to be prepared. I've been thinking along that line simply so I won't have to haul stuff out to the car I might forget under the stress of having to evacuate suddenly and to have it already there when I go on road trips.

Considering the government initiated National Preparedness Month in 2003 and all the natural disasters that have hit this country since, I wonder why it's more important for so many people to have the latest electronic games and smart phones than it is to set some things aside for the proverbial rainy day, not even having a basic, inexpensive car survival kit to keep themselves from freezing to death.

Are the relatively few of us who are prepared, or at least are trying to be, living amongst a nation of hedonists or are they just stupid people who should be left subject to the law of survival of the fittest? How many of us could be that hard-hearted knowing that we might need help ourselves someday despite our preparedness?

Maybe I'm fortunate in that I've been able to draw from other peoples' experience and knowledge as well as my own. My father grew up in Idaho on a farm which necessitates self-sufficiency. My mother and I grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii. She and her parents lived through the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the initial shock, panic, and subsequent war conditions. As a family, we experienced a hurricane and tropical storms along with warnings of tsunamis that, fortunately, never materialized.

As an apartment-dweller, I went back to my experience during a spring break in Honolulu living with a high school friend and her family on the 36' ketch they sailed from the state of Washington to Hawaii trying to remember what they had and how they did things in their small, compact, floating home. I'm also drawing from my experiences traveling, hiking, car camping, and camping with horses with friends who were in the Army.

Dad, who drove through all the lower 48 states plus parts of Canada and Mexico, taught me how to navigate using a road map during our Mainland road trips. I learned how to navigate using a topo map, lensatic compass, and protractor courtesy of the U.S. Army coming out #4 on the test which pretty well embarrassed many of the men. A few real men that were there near me congratulated me on doing so well; the rest were sullen. To the latter, I didn't exist.

Having been taught to put an extra gallon of water in the car trunk when crossing deserts on road trips and stocking several gallons of water in my apartment because of the Y2K bug scare, I already knew to have water on hand for emergencies. Traveling through areas flooded out by 2006's Pineapple Express prompted me to keep extra food on hand.

Also in 2006, a friend in WA advised me to have a 72-hour kit. I didn't know what one was, but found out and have been working on it basing my kit on hiking's 10 Essential Systems I adapted to cover travel and general preparedness to suit me and my lifestyle.

As a result, I've been thanked for sharing what little knowledge I've shared and someone suggested I write a book. At the time, I said "no" because I rather concentrate on writing novels, but thinking about what I know and my experiences and all the research I've done over the past 2+ years for hydration alone (there's a lot of misinformation out there and even the CDC is putting out info that isn't as accurate as it could be), I'm reconsidering.

Already having gear for hiking, camping, and traveling, I'm actually farther along with my own preparedness than this blog indicates. At this point, I'm filling in relatively small holes and organizing or reorganizing.

For the Communication category, because of the tornadoes of the past few days, I'm thinking wearing a lanyard with a whistle during storms, maybe my hiking survival lanyard since I already have it set up, would help get me found faster if I'm under debris, conscious, and able to blow my whistle.

I consider the Documentation category to be incomplete because I misplaced the key to my fireproof lock box which is way too heavy for air travel or evacuation if I have to go on foot. My passport is out because of traveling; I couldn't find the key to put it back in the lock box.

For Finances, I have a little cash on hand in case plastic can't be used due to power outage, but should have much more. A friend in Alabama who experienced April's storms that took out the electricity in her area putting stores and gas stations on a cash-basis said her residential area was without power for 5 days but power wasn't fully restored for 11 days.

For the Transportation category, I need to gather everything together to be able to Grab & Go quickly. Of course, my primary mode of transportation is my car, but what if I encounter a situation like in the movie, "The Happening," where people leave their vehicles to proceed on foot?

A large backpacker's backpack would be best, but since I'm travel-oriented already having a couple of carry-on travel packs, the kind of suitcase that converts to a backpack, that I can use for evacuation, do I shell out the money for one?

Because I'm geared up for hiking, camping, air travel, and road trips, I'm undecided about how to transport my stuff in the event of evacuation by foot without buying a backpacker's backpack to serve as my Grab & Go bag and duplicating stuff to store in it all the time. I have practically everything I need. However, I don't want to risk robbing Peter to pay Paul only to get caught not repaying Peter before the SHTF.

For the category of Security, I'm still figuring out what to do since a lot of stuff was stolen out of my car trunk in 2007 in San Ysidro, CA. Almost everybody knows to keep valuables out of sight, but thieves know the car trunk is where people put them. Lacking a car alarm system, securing the trunk with a cable that sounds an alarm if cut might be the answer for rental cars in addition to long road trips where I have too much stuff to immediately take everything to my room.

The matter of self-defense is a highly personal one because of the variety of state and local laws governing guns, knives, pepper sprays or Mace, and stun guns. Not to mention the TSA.

Personally, I can't see any sense in buying a gun only to have it confiscated without compensation if I'm in a situation like those being bused out of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina who had to give up their guns and knives before being allowed to board a bus.

OTOH, I much rather have a gun than be raped.

On the other other hand, if I can evacuate soon enough, getting far enough away from whatever bad guys remain behind, the money spent buying a firearm would be wasted and better spent on a motel room.

For the time being, I'm relying on prayer and the Fox 40 Mini whistle on my key ring which will hurt a bad guy's ears, hopefully stunning him/them with ear pain long enough for me to get away while it signals my need for help.

Finally, the Entertainment category is covered, I'm sure, although I still intend to get a pocket-sized MP3 player to replace my portable CD player. Since it's low priority, no rush. My Kindle, pocket kite, playing cards, journal, camera, tin whistle, and watercolor paints, etc., should be plenty enough to keep me occupied if necessary in the meantime.

Writing it all up for this blog as promised is the bitch.

This Week's Cancellation

This week's post has been cancelled due to (Pick one or more of the following)...

1. Rising gas prices.

2. The royal wedding.

3. Weather too beautiful to remain indoors on the computer.

4. My researching and editing my yet-to-be-published posts on "The Essential Systems: Hydration" and "Packing List: Hydration."

5. My researching more DIY car survival kit lists and cleaning out my car.

6. My finally getting around to answering my email (still not finished).

7. All of the above.

8. Some of the above.

9. None of the above.

10. Who cares? I'm hungry. What's for dinner?

[You are correct if you selected 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and/or 10.]

Blogging About Preparedness

It's only April and already this has been an eventful year for preparedness issues from snow and ice, to tornadoes, flooding, and wildfires.

Just last Friday, a wildfire broke out on the west side of town from high winds knocking down a power pole. Industrial employees as well as residents were evacuated while firefighters battled for 12 hours to contain the blaze that consumed 3500 acres, returning the next day to put out flare-ups. Although multiple homes were scorched, only the trailer at the site of the fire's origin was totally destroyed.

On Monday, trying to absorb that 80,000 acres had burned in Oklahoma and Texas, a 200-acre fire destroying at least 30 homes in Texas, I learned that another wildfire on the east side of town caused a friend to leave work because her 15-year-old daughter was at home. Fortunately, any concerns were quickly dispelled because the firefighters had the fire out by the time she got home.

At 3:30 early Tuesday morning, firefighters began evacuating residents of a mobile home park RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET FROM MY APARTMENT because of a big grass fire in a field behind it. The raging flames got within 100 feet of the nearest line of mobile homes, making great footage for the local TV news along with the billowing smoke, but again, the firefighters were able to contain the fire; this time within only 30 minutes, and no property was damaged.

Whew! May God bless firefighters! And all our emergency response personnel!

Residents so close to my own home being awakened at Oh-dark-thirty to evacuate within mere moments emphasizes the necessity of our having Grab & Go bags at the ready.

I admit that even by my own standards, I've been extraordinarily slow about finishing my series on Fifteen Essential Systems. It's because I got snagged on my post about hydration, discovering that I bit off a whole lot more than anticipated. I thought I could pose situations, possible solutions, and product recommendations to help other people save the time on all the research I had to do for myself and got overwhelmed by what I was learning. Do I address those with wells? What about those manufacturers snowing consumers with words and numbers that mean practically nothing in regards to keeping us from getting sick from drinking water? Plus, the product line-up has changed, making newer products available before I have the post ready to publish, trapping me in an endless loop of research to keep up. Auwe! The only way to break out of the loop is to eliminate product recommendations.

Since I resolved my own hydration concerns two years ago and many of the others since then, one might wonder why I bother. It's simply because I said I would. Plus, it's great being able to share information about something I really care about.

The greatest benefit about being prepared is the confidence of knowing I'm able to face just about anything I might encounter at home or on my travels.

Psalms 91:
5. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
6. Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

RSS Feed

This is a notice for those of you who subscribed to my blog via RSS feed: I will be discontinuing it later this week for personal reasons.

I apologize for any inconvenience.

Happy 3rd Blogiversary!

Today is my third blogiversary!

Thanks to my readers and visitors who encourage me by continuing to stop by, I produced 61 posts over the past 52 weeks, a slight increase over previous years.

Since a celebration calls for some type of refreshment, please help yourself to the Red Velvet Pancakes.

Happy Blogiversary!

BFN

There's a red light blinking on my laptop.

Since I don't know what it represents, I'm currently backing up my hard drive.

Since I don't know how bad it may be, this post is "Bye for now" because if it's bad, I may be offline for a while.

Journal Excerpts Online

Finally! I put a baker's dozen worth of excerpts from my travel journal of my Road Trip 2006-2007 to The Reading Room of my website and invite you to read them.

One reason I wait is to get some distance to make it easier for me to see the glaring rough spots so I may edit them out. This time, other factors including the theft of my laptop in 2007 while I was in San Ysidro, CA, made the length of time several years longer than intended.

While reading them to select which journal entries to add to my website, I was surprised by the number of details I had already forgotten. One, a man telling me that he and his friends were in a local establishment during a storm when a tree fell on another patron's car, brought back the memory of my waiting in the lobby of that particular Motel 6 in Oregon so vividly, it was as though I was there right after the man finished his story.

As a result, I encourage all travelers to take the time to record their travels in a journal. Even if you're not a writer, or find writing difficult, whatever you write will bring back precious memories of your trip for you to savor years after it's over.

While I email mine to myself and other travelers may blog, all you need is a pen and a journal. Nobody else has to read it unless you want to share; it's up to you.

The benefit is immeasurable.

This Week

It's another brief post as I'm working on new pages to add to my website.

Have a great weekend!

POOF!

I typed up a post and saved it as a Draft to verify something before submitting it.

The screen flickered.

POOF!

The post disappeared.

Apparently, you don't need to read what I wrote because I can't find it anywhere and I'm certainly not retyping it.

Sorry, this is all you're getting this week.

Have a nice weekend! I'm going to practice playing "Yankee Doodle Dandy" on my tin whistle to see how good I can get by Independence Day.

Get Your Own Domain Name

Ever since 1998 when I first started doing websites, friends and acquaintances have come to me saying they think they'd like to have their own business or ministry websites. Although I quit doing websites for other people about seven years ago because it takes too much time away from my writing and because I don't want to have to keep current on the latest flashy website design or search engine optimization (SEO) for other people, the topic keeps coming up.

As a result, here is a blog post so everyone may read why they should get their own domain name sooner rather than putting it off until later along with some tips for how to get one.

(If you are one of those writers who doesn't want anything to do with having a website for your writing endeavors - and there are successful writers who eschew the entire concept of having a presence online whether it be a website, blog, Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter - please feel free to click away now and not waste any more of your time when you should be busy writing.

Yes, you! You know you're procrastinating by reading blogs instead of writing! If, however, you've read or been told you need to have a website and think you might agree, please read on.)

The first objection to getting a domain name now is that you're not ready for it. Deep down inside, you know you'll have your own website eventually, but not just now. You don't want the expense, you don't know precisely what you'd put on a website, or who will design and maintain it for you if you don't learn to do it yourself.

That's okay.

There are two components to having a website and the web host - where the website will reside - won't matter until you're ready to put up content.

However, the domain name - the URL, the address that tells everyone where your website is, for example, mine is gailrhea.us - may be considered a prime piece of real estate in cyberspace and should be obtained as soon as you know what you want it to be to prevent someone else from getting it because, like real property, once it's gone, it may be gone for the rest of your lifetime and beyond.

It happened to a man I knew who was starting a ministry. He selected the ministry name and proceeded to set up his organization but ignored my urging him to get the domain name saying he wasn't ready for it. After several months, he was ready, but in the meantime, it had already been registered by another ministry with the same name in a different state.

It's more important for writers to get a domain name that matches their real or pen name since that's the first URL readers will try before resorting to a search engine to find an author's website. For example, back in 1999, I typed "www.johngrisham.com" into the address bar of my browser and landed on a cybersquatter's website because, evidently, nobody in Grisham's corner was 'net savvy enough to have registered his domain name for him before the cybersquatter got it. To this day, if you try to visit his official website, you can't use johngrisham.com; you have to use jgrisham.com instead.

It may seem like a small matter, but really, it isn't a good idea to inconvenience your readers and potential fans by making them use a search engine or locate their copy of your book that has your URL in small type on the back cover in order to visit your website. If you decide later that you're absolutely certain that you don't want a website, you can always release it by letting the registration expire.

The second objection is the expense. What expense? Sure, if you're a starving artist living in a garret, the US$10-35 may be hard to come by, but if you're a writer who kept your day job, simply skip a couple of pizzas or dinners out and the registration fee for your domain name will be covered for an entire year. Or, hint to your friends and family that you'd like your domain name as a birthday or Christmas gift.

A related objection might be that you're not willing to pay the registration fee year after year with nothing in return on the purely speculative notion that you're going to need a website. Sure, the arts are highly competitive and there is the possibility that you won't make it big, but your domain name may be used as your email address while you're waiting to finish writing your current book or, if you're an artist, attain the level of artistry that will sell enough to pay for your domain name and web host and then some.

By setting it up in your registrar's control panel to forward your emails to your current email addy, a simple task that's a free service at many registrars, you can have a single, permanent, easily-remembered, individualized email address that will work no matter to what ISP you may decide to switch in the future and your contacts will never again have to change their address books.

Now that you have more info to mull over, you may be inclined to type your name into your browser's address bar with ".com" appended just out of curiosity. If you don't land on someone else's website, go to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), read the info for first-time visitors and the FAQs at InterNIC that is operated by ICANN, then register your domain name with one of the accredited registrars on the ICANN list or a reseller. (Here is a list organized alphabetically by country.)

What will you do if someone else's website comes up? You have several options:

1. Wait and hope that the owner forgets to renew the registration or changes his/her mind and releases it so it may be registered by someone else, hopefully you rather than another person - which may never happen.

2. Offer to buy it - which may be more expensive than your wallet can bear.

3. Register your name under a different generic top-level domain (gTLD), such as .net or .org, instead of .com. For example, John Sandford's domain name is johnsandford.org.

You may also choose to use your country's two-character country code (ccTLD) such as .us for the U.S. or .de for Germany.

If you're a licensed professional, .pro may be the best TLD for you especially since it's use is restricted. Just by seeing the .pro, clients will know you're a licensed professional.

If you want to put up a website to disseminate information about your area of expertise, consider using .info as your gTLD.

If you're a private individual who wants a non-commercial domain name, .name is designated for personal websites and email addresses. However, please note there is no email forwarding available with the second-level domain name (example: rhea.name) and no email SMTP sending capability with the third-level domain name (example: gail.rhea.name), only email forwarding, i.e., you can receive email using your third-level domain name but not send. To send, you'll have to use the address you set up with your email provider.

4. Pick a different name - entirely do-able especially if you intend to use a pseudonym - or use a different form of your name. For example, instead of firstnamelastname, try firstinitiallastname like John Grisham has with his jgrisham.com. Or, use only your last name like Janet Evanovich did: evanovich.com. You might also use a hyphen as in firstname-lastname although hyphenated domain names aren't commonly known.

Many registrars have a search tool for you to check on availability of the domain name you have in mind that also displays a list of suggested alternatives in case the one you want isn't available.

Other tips I want to pass on are:

* Understand that you don't actually own your domain name. When you register it for your use, it's more like leasing office space.

* Use an ICANN-accredited registrar. This alone will greatly eliminate potential issues.

* When you're ready to register your domain name, be sure you will be the registered owner by examining the fine print of the registrar's policy. Some registrars or resellers register the domain you select and take your money, but put it in their own company's name so you can't take it with you should you decide to transfer to a different registrar. Be careful of the policy also, if you get a hosting package that includes a free domain name because some tie the free domain name to the hosting package which means you can't take the domain name with you if you decide to have your website hosted elsewhere.

* Don't ever let your domain name expire until you're ready to let it go!!! Many registrars charge oodles to reinstate an expired domain name registration. Depending on your circumstances, it might be safer to sign up for auto-renewal on a charge card so you won't be caught off-guard by an expiration date as one person was when he had a long-term disablement. His domain name registration expired while he was recuperating from surgery and it was a hard pill to swallow as it matched the name of his business.

* Geocities is closed, but there are other free web hosts or blog hosts if you want to forward your domain name to one of them. URL forwarding, typically a free service provided by the registrar, is useful for those who can't yet afford paid hosting but want to start establishing an online presence and who, rather than paying someone else, may want to learn how to create their own website perhaps using their word processing program's ability to save in HTML. A simple website is all a writer really needs until hitting the New York Times Best Seller list with translations in umpteen different countries.

Plus, an email address using your own domain name, with or without a website's URL, looks great on your business or contact card.

It's something to think about, eh?

Seriously.

New Photo Banner

It's time for a new photo. This stranded boat was found on Lummi Island in the state of Washington.

Happy Blogiversary!

This post marks my second blogiversary. What a surprise it is to me that I've been able to produce an average of a post a week for two whole years especially considering that many weeks I have no idea what I'll be writing about next. It's also surprising that I've reached people in 55 countries in addition to the U.S.

Thank you very much to my regular readers for your faithfulness. Although I may not know you as individuals, it is comforting for me to know that people are reading the words I send out into cyberspace.

Thanks also to my visitors who stop by seeking specific information. It's reassuring that the time I spend on research, measuring, evaluating, and writing about various things might be useful to others.

Happy Blogiversary!

Joy by the Water

I decided to change my blog's title from "Sound Off!" that I started using in 1999 when I emailed my first rant to various people about how the millennium wasn't starting in 2000 but in 2001, despite the worldwide celebration by those who evidently didn't know how to count from one to a thousand.

I'm going with my name since it is a good name and has served me well over the years. I also like the symbolism, both spiritually and geographically.

"Gail" means "joy" in Aramaic.

"Rhea" in the original spelling means "by the water" in Irish.

Thus, my name means "Joy by the Water" and it is true.

"The Lord is my shepherd..." (Psalm 23:1)

Baa-aa-aa!

Making a Change

I've been thinking of changing the title of this blog because "Sound Off!" doesn't suit what it's become as well as I thought it would.

One option is "The Pachinko Machine" because one never knows where the ball is going to bounce.

Another option is "Falcon Works" since I write with a fountain pen and my favorite is the Namiki Falcon because of its flexible nib.

The third option is to simply use my name. Boring, huh?

Let's see, what other options are there?

Decisions, decisions...

As it turns out, it was easier to select one of my photographs and change the banner.

[The photo was taken at the 16th Annual White Sands Hot Air Balloon Invitational that is held every September at the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico.]

Too Good Not to Share #2

Here are links to more things I've enjoyed on the World Wide Web.

The BBC Wildlife Magazine and London's Natural History Museum own the Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition:

The winning photographs for 2009.

Caution! This may make you die from laughing:

Cat Betrayed Girlfriend.

You don't need blue skies to make good pictures:

Fifty Beautiful Photographs of a Cloudy Day.

Nice, strange, beautiful, fun, bizarre:

Oddee.com is a blog on the oddities of this world.

Do you think you've got a hard life? You can't make this stuff up (although a few do sound like it):

FML.com - Your everyday life stories.

Finally, some beautiful music (I love the rain drops and thunder sound effects they make.):

Perpetuum Jazzile performs Toto's "Africa".

Adding to the Gov't. Coffers?

Yesterday, the FTC released its revised Guides, effective December 1, 2009, regarding reviews stating that when products or money are given to bloggers by merchants, the bloggers must reveal the "material connection" or face a fine up to $11,000 for each post in violation because such reviews are no longer consumer reviews, but endorsements.

Conceivably, the main groups that will be affected by this change will be those like the gamers, who review gaming software and hardware, mommy bloggers, who review goods and services for parents and children, and celebrities who tweet about what they use. The FTC holds that people like them are acting as advertisers who aren't truly independent from the merchants and that consumers need to be apprised of any material connections since bias may exist.

Now, truth-in-advertising and all that is fine, and I'm thinking that honest bloggers won't take issue with the change, which is the first in 29 years, since I read blogs that already have been thanking merchants for providing them the goods they've been reviewing.

What I anticipate may be surprising to some of them is that the IRS considers it as income and expects taxes to be paid just like for bartering, sweepstakes, gambling winnings, and the cars that Oprah gave away. The revised FTC Guides will make it easier for the IRS to go after any unreported income which, for some bloggers, may add up to tens of thousands of dollars' worth of goods and services received.